George Clooney: Democrats need ‘charismatic’ candidates like Donald Trump
George Clooney’s latest directorial effort, Suburbicon, was a massive failure. It opened two weekends ago and it massively bombed. The second weekend box office had a steep drop-off too, coming in tenth place. The first ten days of its release have netted $5.1 million in receipts. Terrible. I think the film bombed for a variety of reasons: one, the film wasn’t really the politically charged satire Clooney claimed it was; two, it came out in the midst of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and Matt in particular didn’t have the right answers to any Weinstein questions; three, it wasn’t a great movie? The reviews were meh, which is increasingly common with Clooney’s directorial efforts. Still, George is leaning hard into directing now, because he doesn’t want to act much from here on out. That’s what he told The Sunday Times (UK). Some highlights:
He won’t act much anymore: “Look, I acted for a long time and, you know, I’m 56. I’m not the guy that gets the girl anymore,” he said, before adding that at least he “shouldn’t be the guy that gets the girl. But, look, if somebody’s got Paul Newman in The Verdict, I’d jump. But there aren’t that many like that.”
He’s rich now: “Acting used to be how I paid the rent, but I sold a tequila company for a billion f— dollars. I don’t need money. I have money. So I can fight to make movies I want to make. If you look at what I’ve been in over the past 15 years, for the most part they weren’t going to get made if I didn’t do them. Nobody was going to make Good Night, and Good Luck, Michael Clayton or Up in the Air, and I fought to get those out there.”
He’s not going to run for president: “So many people since Trump was elected have really been pushing on me to get more involved in actual politics, specifically at the highest office. I don’t have political aspirations. I have always been involved in politics. My father ran for Congress. It’s been in our family for ever. But, mostly, I can help in ways I actually know very well, like messaging [voters].”
Democrats need more charismatic politicians: He says the Democratic party needs is a candidate “who lights up a room… Trump, for all his terrible instincts, is very charismatic. A TV star. People didn’t vote for him because he accomplished anything. They knew him. And they were, like, he’s exciting/ Democrats in general are very passive. In debates, the Republican will go, ‘That guy’s bad, and that guy’s good.’ And the Democrat will say, ‘Well, I understand what you’re saying, because your parents were alcoholics …’ And the reality is that you need people who go, ‘That’s good. That’s bad.’ ”
[From People]
Whenever George tries to give political advice to his party, I’m always struck by how politically naive he is. Trump is not charismatic and people weren’t drawn to Trump because he “pops” on camera or whatever. Trump is an unhinged lunatic and he comes across as wooden, surly, stupid, crazy, petty and juvenile on the public stage and on camera. People voted for him IN SPITE OF THAT. They voted for him because he spoke their language, he spoke to their racism and sexism and pettiness. Democrats don’t need to look at Trump and think “we need our own version of that.”
As for George’s money and his plan to fight to get certain movies made… my problem with that is that he made it clear that he’s going to continue to “fight” to make movies with all-white casts, about white people drama. And it just feels like maybe he should broaden his horizons or else his next films will fail too.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Source: George Clooney: Democrats need ‘charismatic’ candidates like Donald Trump
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